


Wings to Another Time

by ClaudeLv250



Category: Star Ocean: Till the End of Time
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Novelization, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Friendship, Gen, Science Fiction, Self-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-11
Updated: 2015-04-08
Packaged: 2018-03-11 21:07:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3332894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClaudeLv250/pseuds/ClaudeLv250
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As I watched the events of Star Ocean: Till the End of Time unfold before my very eyes, I realized that things had gone horribly awry when it was Sophia that had crash-landed onto Vanguard III. Sophia and...myself.</p>
<p>An alternate novelization attempt at giving Sophia much needed focus and depth she didn't get in the game, and the twists that entails.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Drifting in the Ocean (Prologue)

**Author's Note:**

> Introduction: I am a huge Star Ocean fan, to say the least, and have been ever since I played Star Ocean: The Second Story in 1999. I like to write, fan fiction included. I’ve been trying for ages to write the right Star Ocean piece. I actually have a few unfinished things sitting around (like Star Ocean Zero) that may see the light of day. But here we are with “Farce Ocean 3.”
> 
> To get a bit more on topic, I originally envisioned Farce Ocean as a series of straight parodies of each Star Ocean. That idea evolved into alternate takes on their narratives. You will see what I mean when the story really gets started.
> 
> Summary: If anyone knows me, they know that I am not a huge fan of Sophia Esteed. Instead of writing a bash fic like a lot of people would, I decided to explore the character from another viewpoint. This is an ode to Star Ocean 3, an alternate novelization, and an attempt to flesh out and give Sophia more of a role in the storyline. This is a story that adds a layer of uncertainty to the tale we all know, peppered with a bit of my personality. I hope you enjoy the ride back to SD 772.
> 
> Disclaimer: Star Ocean and all related properties belong to tri-Ace/Square-Enix. I guess the only thing I own here is...myself?

I had never felt so alone in my life. 

Painted before me was an endless sea of stars glittering against the depths of space, and the only thing protecting me from the cold vacuum was the glass-like canopy of the escape pod. The inner workings of the control pad sprawled before my fingertips was far beyond my understanding, but the systems were user-friendly enough.

An Earth-like planet slid into view, its atmosphere slathered in maroon hues and one side of its spherical body cresting with the luminous rays of the sun. The beautiful sight put me at ease...until the auto-pilot announced that it was taking me down for a landing. I wasn’t surprised, of course. This destination was inevitable. But there’s no easy way to prepare someone for their first landing from space.

I gripped the seat and tightly shut my eyes as the ship broke the atmosphere. It wasn’t as bumpy as I expected, so I gathered some courage to open my eyes again only to find that my view was obscured anyway by the entry into the atmosphere. Once the ship plowed through the cloud barrier, my sight was flooded with the green of a forest, and it was approaching fast!

My pod slammed into the ground and only slid a short distance. That wasn’t anywhere near as bad as I thought it was going to be. I grinned and almost laughed...that was sort of fun!

I pulled my backpack from between my legs and slid it onto my back. The canopy lifted and I took a deep breath before leaping out of the pod. The short grass crunched beneath my feet. A thin, pretty minute layer of frost was trying to form. I blew into the air and watched the smoke that was my breath dissipate. Before me stood a forest and not far behind where the pod had landed was a ridge overlooking another expanse of trees. The sky was overcast; a wall of grey smothered any signs of the sun. Mountains in the distance kissed the cloudy skies. There was nothing unusual about the environment – in fact, it could have been on Earth – and yet, I knew this was an alien planet. I had landed on Vanguard III.

I turned around and examined the remains of the escape pod. It was trashed for sure. It was only supposed to get me here safely, so I guess it had done its job. A sound pierced my ears, like a plane dropping in altitude but not quite as harsh. I turned and looked up to see another escape pod burst through the clouds. The blue jetfire from its back-thrusters cut out and it plummeted into the forest. The ground quaked and I saw debris fly into the air. That was probably Fayt’s pod, and it hadn’t landed too far from here!

Following what could be considered a trail, I sprinted through the forest in the direction of the crashed pod. I found an escape pod identical to my own perched atop a few downed trees. That was odd...this definitely didn’t look like the same crash site as Fayt’s pod in the game, but this was “real life” so I just accepted that there were more details than what sprites and polygons could convey.

As the pod’s canopy lifted, I eagerly awaited for Fayt to emerge. What I saw first were the long locks of a brunette, before my sight locked with the teal eyes of...

“Sophia!?” 

She had abandoned the hair-in-a-bun look, but it was still the one and only Sophia Esteed. “Claude? You made it here too!”

I grabbed her hand without realizing it and helped her navigate down from atop the trees. You may be wondering about what she meant by “too,” and how we could have possibly crossed paths beforehand. For that, I would have to go a ways back. You see...

“Is Fayt here too?” Sophia asked suddenly, cutting through my thoughts.

I looked into the gray sky. No more pods had emerged, and I realized what that really meant. Only one person was supposed to land on Vanguard III. Taking myself out of the equation as the true anomaly in this situation, that meant that that one person had been Sophia instead of Fayt. Somehow, my presence had disrupted the natural chain of events. We were in deep.

“I think we’re the only ones,” I admitted reluctantly, my voice nearly a whisper. Sophia’s eyes widened with fear.

But before I can even begin to wade through the mess I had landed into, there’s time for just a bit of reflection. They say that before you know where you’re going, you have to know where you’ve _been_. So, about how I met Sophia...to begin, I’d have to go a ways back, like I said before...to the moment before I was pulled out of the life I knew and dumped into another universe at the random will of a super-being, like a fish out of water, ironically drifting through the star ocean...


	2. Just Another Day (CH01)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 01
> 
> It started off as just another day when I was heading to work. It ended with my life changing forever.
> 
> (This was originally the prologue when I first started writing this story.)

I released the gas pedal as my car cruised along the aged road of the shopping center. With a tug of the steering wheel, I guided the vehicle between two white lines and shifted into park. I unhooked my seatbelt but hesitated in turning the car off. The cool air of the AC was the only thing separating me from the sweltering summer heat.

Instead, I did an awkward stretch and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. That’s what I get for doing another Star Ocean marathon the night before work.

In my defense, time flies when you’re in the Maze of Tribulations.

I glanced through the windshield at my workplace across the short road from the lot. “Comps ‘n Romps” was a small computer help and repair center. I always told Geoff, the owner, that the name gave completely different imagery than what he was probably going for...but I came into the picture long after the place opened so my opinion didn’t mean much.

However, I did fit in to the scheme of things pretty well, and I loved seeing the looks on the customers’ faces when I solved the really simple problems they couldn’t figure out. Last week we got a woman that thought she busted her monitor when her daughter managed to flip the image after she slammed on the keyboard. I was hoping it was going to be another one of those easy days.

With a heavy sigh, I twisted the key and felt the crisp air cut out. I set my cellphone to vibrate mode and dropped it into my backpack. I put on a brave face, opened the car door and leapt out into the open. 

The sun went to work in cooking my skin immediately. Not to mention the humidity. The cerulean finish of my car reflected the sunlight into my eyes as I closed the door. Hot _and_ blind – nice. 

I jogged across the street and gave a glance to the GameStop next to our store. I didn’t have to be in for a couple of minutes...aaaaand their AC is better than ours... 

That thought vanished when I noticed a woman in my peripheral vision gliding – yes, gliding – down the sidewalk. At first I chalked it up to what little sleep I got, but my curiosity convinced me to confirm it with my own eyes. As I turned to look, the woman was much closer than I realized, and I immediately recognized her. 

The blonde woman wore a sleeveless black dress that puffed out into frills below the waist. A second, white piece of the dress fell out from under the frills, its bottom trimmed in a pattern of golden flowers. In her arm was a metal staff with a large, elaborate crescent moon at its end. She certainly had the look down, and her bare feet were planted firmly on the ground.

“Nice costume,” I admitted with a grin. “But you’re gonna have to save Celestial Star for later. The anime convention is **next** week.” 

Her eyes slowly made their way to me, appearing as if they were taking in more than what anyone could see. There was a calculating coldness behind those glistening sapphires.

“You know of me?” 

Wow, she must really be playing the part. 

“Ethereal Queen, celestial super boss,” I said. “Shows up in every Star Ocean. Pops up in other tri-Ace games too.” 

Her expression was unreadable. I got a strange vibe as we stood there in silence; she...didn’t actually believe that she was who she dressed up as, did she? There wasn’t exactly a scarcity of crazy women in this city, though... 

“You will suffice,” she said suddenly. 

“What are you...?” The rest of my words escaped me. Six wings of light spread outward from her back, as did a golden halo over her head. Her feet hovered about a foot over the cement. She pointed her staff at me, then turned to her left and sliced the air with the crescent tip. 

A slither of darkness appeared where she had made the cut, and everything around it seemed to wobble and tremble in distortion. I felt compelled towards it, figuratively AND literally, as it expanded into a pear-shaped vacuum. The darkness was peppered with distant lights that I would have guessed to be stars if I wasn’t preoccupied with not getting sucked into its black oblivion. 

I latched onto the metal door just before my feet left the ground. The woman’s face was still unreadable and the vacuum only grew in strength. Someone, ANYONE, had to be seeing this. But as I prayed for the intervention of strangers or coworkers, a harsh reality set in: If this was the **real** Ethereal Queen, no mortal on this planet could stand up to her.

That fact hit me hard, maybe hard to enough to leave a physical impact, as I lost my grip on the door soon afterward and plummeted into the abyss.


	3. Memories of a Future (CH02)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 02
> 
> I wake up in a hotel that shouldn't exist and see familiar faces I know can't exist. The journey is just beginning - again.

I didn’t know how much time had passed but, when I came to, I was sitting against a wall. I quickly patted myself down; everything was intact, and I was still wearing the orange shirt and blue shorts I came to work in. I even still had my backpack strapped to my back. 

Okay, maybe the whole Ethereal Queen incident was just a dream. That didn’t explain how I got _here,_ though. 

I got up and took a looked around. I was in a hallway with a series of beige doors. A floral scent with a hint of saltwater drifted through my nose. I figured I was in a hotel, but there was something vaguely familiar about this place... 

One end of the hallway turned left, marked by a large window in a convex shape, bulging outward like the inner half of a tube or bubble. I needed to get my bearings and ventured towards the window, slowing my pace as I realized the view steadily dropped off. The hotel was built on a cliff, and if this window wasn’t here, anyone could just tumble out! 

I gave in to my nagging fear of heights and turned back the way I came. An old man with long white hair shuffled down the hall. I decided against asking him exactly where I was; I didn’t want the people here thinking I was crazy, after all. 

The old man nodded as he passed by and I nodded back, only to have my attention thoroughly caught by movement from behind him. A long, feline-like fuzzy tail protruded from the back of his pants, waving lazily as he hobbled the rest of the way down the hall. 

Was I seeing things?

I had been staring at the tail so long that I bumped into someone. 

“My bad,” I said quickly. 

“S’okay,” the brunette replied. 

Any questions, any reservations I had about where I was went out of that bubble window when I realized I was staring into the teal eyes of Sophia Esteed. It all started to make sense – and not make **any** sense – as I let that dawn on me. 

Sophia was wearing a hoodie over a bathing suit and holding two drinks in her hand. She curiously titled her head to the side and asked, “...Are you okay?” 

“Uh, yeah,” I murmured quickly. I must have been staring for a long time. 

“Okay, then. See ya!” she exclaimed cheerily, starting back down the hallway. 

I had the sudden urge to follow her. I had to confirm it. I had to confirm _everything_. 

Of course, it’s one thing to bump into a video game character. It’s another to get caught stalking them. 

So I kept my distance while following her. I peeked around the corner of the hallway into a lobby with a water fountain in the center. Sophia handed the second drink to a blue-haired young man sitting by the fountain, and I could tell by the way he was avoiding eye contact with her that he was being scolded. That was Fayt Leingod, no doubt.

I leaned back into the hallway as figurative butterflies waged war with my stomach. I could ask them for help, but as far they were concerned, they were two ordinary people. How could they help me, anyway? I still wasn’t entirely sure that this wasn’t a dream. 

Yeah...a dream. And that encounter with the Ethereal Queen was probably part of this dream too! It wouldn’t be the first time a dream punted me around to different situations with little context like this. And one way to prove this was a dream was to stretch the boundaries and see how far I could go before I woke up or it switched up on me again. 

I went back down the hallway and noticed a door that was labeled “Private Beach.” That sounded like a great place to test my theory and I stepped inside to find the room lined with cylindrical transporters and grinned at my first encounter with futuristic technology. 

 

* * *

 

I laughed as my body tingled from the surge of being re-atomized in the transporter for the fifth time. To say that I had gotten carried away would have been an understatement. 

“Welcome to the Grantier’s private beach,” a hotel employee greeted at the end of the room. A third eye nestled in her forehead blinked at me casually. “Please do not play on the transporters. We have plenty of activities outside that I’m sure that you’d enjoy.” 

I almost froze in place; how long had she watched me make a fool of myself? I nodded and quickly headed out of the automated door, hoping the sun would melt the shame away. 

My feet met sand as I walked onto the Grantier’s famed beach. It was sparsely populated, but exactly how I remembered it, with a touch of hyper-realism. The sand beneath my sneakers sank with every foot fall, the saltwater wafted its way through my nose and into my lungs, and the sunlight caressed my skin in warm waves. The sounds of the ocean running along the shore drifted into my ears. The water was inviting...I hadn’t seen water this crystal clear since my trip to the Bahamas. 

I then shuddered a bit; all of those details made me painfully aware that this was realer than any dream I’ve ever had before, and that brought a lot of implications with it. This beach was so real that it easily could have been on Earth. 

And then a blue dolphin dude waddled by me with a surfboard tucked under his fin. 

There goes the Earth theory. 

I spotted one of those reclining beach chairs under the shade of a parasol and quickly claimed it. Don’t get me wrong – the sun here felt much better than the one at home, and the melanin in my skin gives me protection from harsh rays – but it doesn’t hurt to be cautious, right? I needed to think things through, and I couldn’t do that by aimlessly wandering around the beach and potentially bumping into aliens like that dolphin dude. 

I had let it sink in that I was really on Hyda IV, somewhere in the Kappa Sector, in the Star Ocean universe. What was I doing here? How would I get home? Assuming I somehow managed to hitch an intergalactic ride back to Earth, it wouldn’t be _my_ Earth. I would be living in a world at least eight hundred years far-flung ahead of my own. 

The futuristic city across the water with its skyscrapers and aerial highways intrigued me. Maybe this was an opportunity and not a curse. An opportunity to do what, exactly, I hadn’t figured out. 

“Where’s your brain, Fayt!” 

Uh-oh. I knew that voice. My curiosity got the best of me and I eventually looked to see the commotion I already knew was in motion. 

I watched as a dejected brunette in a skimpy blue swimsuit cut between Sophia and Fayt and stomped her way back to the transporter room. Once the woman was out of earshot, they started talking again. I noticed that Sophia had changed her clothes to a pink tank top and her infamous V-pants: jeans that opened dangerously low beneath her waistline. Fayt himself sported a casual white vest, brown shorts and sandals. 

Sophia was blushing and beginning to stutter.  As I continued to watch them, their conversation drifted off and their eyes suddenly fell upon me. I felt like I had been caught spying on them even though I was here first! 

“Hey...it’s you!” Sophia exclaimed, happily changing the subject of whatever they were discussing beforehand. 

“Uhh...hey...” I managed to murmur. 

“Sophia, do you know him?” Fayt asked. 

“We bumped into each other earlier,” she explained, “But we’ve never formally met. I’m Sophia and that’s Fayt!” 

I stood up and shook Fayt’s hand. “I’m Claude,” I introduced myself. I tried to keep myself composed and pretended like they were just regular people. 

“Are you here with your family?” Sophia suddenly asked, catching me off-guard. 

“No, it’s...just me.” 

Fayt and Sophia traded glances. What were they thinking? 

“You can hang out with us, if you want,” Fayt suggested. “We’ve just been checking out the place, that’s all.” 

Sophia nodded and said, “I’m sorta here by myself too...though I came with Fayt’s family.” She leaned to the side as if she saw something particularly interesting behind me. “Speaking of which, there’s Uncle Robert and Aunt Ryoko now!”

Wait, what? I turned around and, sitting under the parasol not too far from mine were Robert and Ryoko Leingod. How did I not realize they were so close to me? 

“Hi kids, how’s it going?” Robert asked upon seeing Fayt and Sophia. 

“Now Fayt, don’t go spending your whole vacation playing video games,” Ryoko said before anyone could answer. 

Fayt sighed, rolled his eyes and placed one hand on his hip in slight defiance. “Mom, I’m not a kid. You don’t have to tell me stuff like that. Besides...” 

“This is our new friend Claude,” Sophia introduced me. 

Ryoko looked up from under her straw sun hat and smiled. “Nice to meet you,” I said. 

“Hello Claude. Making new friends already, Fayt? Maybe I don’t have to lecture you after all.” 

“I told you, mom,” Fayt said, and I suddenly found myself being corralled back towards the Grantier. “We’ve got lots of plans, lots of stuff to do today.” 

I couldn’t really blame Fayt. Being smothered by your parents is one of the last things you want to happen in front of your friends. 

“So what exactly are these plans?” Sophia asked once we were in the transporter room. Her cheeks puffed with a smug, playful grin. 

Fayt shrugged. “I guess we pick up where we left off.” 

“You mean roaming aimlessly throughout the Grantier?” 

“That’s fine by me. Unless...” They were both looking at me intently. Wait, why were they looking at me? 

“Was there anything in particular you wanted to do, Claude?” 

Fayt’s question shook me out of my stupor. For a moment, I forgot that this wasn’t on my TV...I was actually here! 

“Uh...no, not in particular,” I said quickly. 

To think, a few minutes ago I was trying to avoid them, and yet I somehow ended up accompanying them. Maybe this was supposed to happen? I guess what I thought earlier was right: this **is** an opportunity, not a curse. I still wasn’t sure what I was doing here, but I was slowly starting to come to terms with the fact that this wasn’t a dream at all. That would also mean that I really did run into the Ethereal Queen, and she orchestrated this entire thing. 

And only she held the answers I sought.


End file.
